Within the field of materials, the development of ecological materials has become relevant. In this sense, emphasis is given to materials, whose parent materials are recycling material such as paper or cardboard, or that constitute a parent material of fast regeneration, as in the case of algae and cactuses.
In the case of building materials, the use of different adhesives as additive in cementitious mixtures has been examined. In this sense, the nopal mucilage has shown to be an additive that enhances the compressive strength of the mortars and acts as a retardant in the fabrication of the same (Journal of the Professional Association for Cactus Development, Vol 10, pp 126-131). The use of nopal mucilage and brown algae extract as additives has been studied in other kind of mixtures, particularly their influence on the viscosity of the obtained mixtures (Construction and Building materials 53 (2014), 190-202), wherein both additives, separately, are found adequate for their use in cementitious mixtures for building. However, in said studies, the use of both additives together is not studied and the studies require said additives to be used in cementitious mixtures. In the previous cases, the use of cement has the disadvantage that it involves a high cost and a strong environmental impact, which are associated to its extraction. Furthermore, the application of mortars is restricted to its use in fixed buildings. Accordingly, there is a search for materials having a low environmental impact and a broad application range. Particularly, the elements originating from recycling play the role of providing a low cost raw material and lowering the environmental impact of the final product.
The state of the art describes materials using alga as one of its components. For example, the patent document U.S. Pat. No. 5,472,569 describes paper made from a cellulose paste and alga powder, wherein alga plays only an ornamental role.
Documents U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,496,748 and 7,951,237 disclose a polymer made from cellulose and particles of marine plants, as well as the process for the manufacture thereof. In one of the embodiments the use of algae as marine plant is considered; however, the process for the manufacture thereof comprises the step of dissolving the cellulose in a solvent selected from the group consisting of DMAc, DMSO, DMF and LiCl, and then mixing the dissolved cellulose with marine plant powder. The solvents used in this process can pose a risk to human health, so this process increases costs due to the related safety measures.
Finally, the document US 2004/228,984 describes a panel comprising a mixture of clay and vegetal material, wherein one of the embodiments thereof involves the use of algae paste as an additive in this mixture. However, in this last case, the algae paste is obtained by boiling a mixture of water and algae for a long time, which involves a cost increase and a greater use of the energy due to this step of the process. Additionally, this method for obtaining said paste implies that the algae are not completely use, since the useful portion seems to be the soluble component of the algae, which is obtained by boiling it. Other methods for obtaining said paste that involve a lower use of the energy are not described in this document.
Consequently, there is a need of providing alternative materials having adequate structural features and at low production cost, which can be obtained from the recycling of solid waste, for its use in a broad range of applications and involving a low environmental impact in its elaboration.